


The Library Dilemma

by CrazycatSitter



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Library AU, Maybe OOC, Sorta Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-06-21 07:47:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15552987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrazycatSitter/pseuds/CrazycatSitter
Summary: She doesn’t have a crush on him or anything, it’s just that he has a great reading voice, and if she could get away with sitting in on story time with all of the little four and five year olds, she would in a heartbeat.But she doesn’t have a crush! She just likes listening to him speak, that’s all...





	The Library Dilemma

**Author's Note:**

> I based this off one of the prompts from The Fake Redhead Writes on Tumblr.
> 
> Disclaimer: "Timothy the Fieldmouse" has nothing whatsoever to do with Leo Lionni's Mr. McMouse book/series, I didn't even know it existed when I wrote it.

Jyn would have absolutely hated working at the local Jedha Municipal Library except for the fact that it paid her bills; and her co-workers were well-behaved enough not to make her want to commit homicide on a regular basis, though every time she caught someone bending the bindings back or dog-earing the pages, it was a near thing. 

Come on, people! Have a little respect why dontcha?

Seriously, she may not be book-obsessed like Chuck, who manages the Archives, nor book-phobic like Cindy who’s almost always glued to the computer screens and nearly impossible to pry away to shelve anything (Jyn has taken to hovering ominously over the rainbow dyed teenager’s shoulder like some sort of ghoul, just to get a little help!). Jyn likes books well enough, but it’s more that she needs books to complete her studies and get her Masters degree in Business, and seeing those precious resources abused is enough to wish terrible things upon people.

Now if she had another job offer show up right that second, she would absolutely and enthusiastically jump on it, even if it were just stocking shelves down at the local mini-mart, except for one reason- One small, insignificant little thing. Okay, it’s not that small, about five feet ten inches to be exact. His name is Cassian Andor and has the most soulful brown eyes she’s ever seen, and every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at noon he shepherds his faithful little ducklings to the Children’s Section for “Book Club”.

She doesn’t have a crush on him or anything, it’s just that he has a great reading voice, and if she could get away with sitting in on story time with all of the little four and five year olds, she would in a heartbeat. 

But she doesn’t have a crush! She just likes listening to him speak, that’s all...

Watching the clock tick ever closer to twelve, Jyn closes the latest book ordering catalogue she’d been marking for next month’s Best Seller’s List event and gathers up the returned books from their bin, so she can organize and shelve the ones in the Young Adult section, which just so happens to be right beside the alcove where the children have their cushions and colouring tables, and is also the place where Cassian, with his delightfully soft Spanish accent holds court. With that in mind, she scoops up a stack of what seems to be science-fiction or fantasy, (it’s hard to tell from the covers) and plonks them on the cart, already overflowing with law books and dictionaries that belong at the complete other side of the library, and sets off to do her job just as the bright giggles of kids taper off into a near reverent hush, ...or maybe she’s projecting, or something.

(She probably is, because kids don’t know the meaning of “reverent”, much less how to express it. Which is a crying shame, because Jyn certainly thinks Cassian deserves it.)

Having crept close enough along the shelves, book in hand, Jyn strained her hearing to pick up the sound of his voice while trying to look inconspicuous, but failed miserably.

“... And then, after such a long long climb, Timothy, the Fieldmouse pushed and pulled and pushed and pulled at the cob of corn, the biggest one he’d ever seen in his entire life!” Cassian read, voice bright and intense, holding his little audience transfixed as Timothy got his corn.

“Erso!” 

Jyn jolted, fumbling with the books in her arms as she whirled around to face the Library Manager, Orson Krennic, a rather hardnosed and strict man who enjoyed telling her about how he knew her parents in college (apparently he had been dating her Mum when she met Galen Erso and the rest was history) and seemed to have a bone to pick with her for some reason.

“Erso, I don’t pay you to stand around daydreaming!” Krennic snarled before stalking off, his (un)fashionable half-cape fluttering behind him.

“Yes sir!” Jyn chirped, heart pounding against her ribs while trying to lodge itself in her throat. Sagging back against the bookcase, Jyn listened to make certain that outburst hadn’t disturbed the children (Cassian hadn’t seemed to hear the encounter), and Timothy was well on his way to rolling that ear of corn back to his home at the foot of the big ivy-wrapped oak on the edge of the field.

Bustling off to the Legal Section to shelve monstrously heavy books while muttering uncomplimentary things under her breath, she passed one of her favorite attendees, Leia Solo, who was studying law while raising her little hellion, Ben, almost by herself, because her husband, Han (who Jyn didn’t like because he bent the books the wrong way around and creased the bindings), was out of town so often for his trucking business. 

She was Jyn’s hero.

“Did Krennic chase you away again, Jyn?” Leia asked, a highlighter tucked behind her ear and neon pink streaked across her cheek. Jyn laughed, shrugged ruefully, and stuffed a ten-pound book into the too-small space left on the shelf, cheeks pinking at being so very predictable. “You know, instead of eavesdropping on him every week, you might as well ask him out; it can’t hurt to try!”  
“I do not want to ask Cassian Andor on a date, don’t be absurd! Besides, what if he says no?”

“Well, if you strike out, and I really doubt that you will, you can always go back to peeking at him through the shelves again.”

“Leia! I don’t peek!”

“No no, of course not!!” Leia laughed, “You just really like shelving teen angst all the time!”

“Oooh, why you!” Jyn exclaimed, grabbing a magazine off a nearby table and flapped it at a laughing Leia, who cut herself off when her phone chirped a reminder.

“Oh, sorry Jyn, but I’ve gotta pick up the munchkin from daycare, we’re trying out a new one ‘cause the last place had a creepy guy that hung around all the time, so I’ve gotta run!” she rushed, scrabbling to pack up her books and papers, stuffing them into a bag that was starting to split at the seams, and hustled off, lopsided, the bag weighing nearly as much as her own small frame.

Calling out a farewell and good luck, Jyn checked the clock again, heaving a sigh when it read 1:15, reading time was officially over for the week, and Cassian was putting his stuff away.

Resigned to having to wait another three days, Jyn found a home for the last book and headed back to man the front desk, where she busied herself emptying the paper-shredder between check-outs.

“Hey Jyn,” she startled so badly, yelping at the sudden address, that she dumped paper strips all over the floor as she spun around, “oh damn, I mean, darn! Sorry about that!” Cassian stumbled over himself, straightening up from where he’d been leaning suavely against the counter, “Here, let me help with that!” and came around the edge to start gathering up confetti with her.

“So, I was meaning to ask, before this whole mess, but, um, would you like to get some coffee with me?” Cassian asked, cheeks a dusty rose of embarrassment underneath his rather charming scruff.

Jyn gaped at him long enough that he started to look nervous, before blinking rapidly and dropping her handful of fluff.

“I get off work at three!”


End file.
